Blog Post
It Is Time: Get Involved during Sexual Assault Awareness Month
The following post appears courtesy of Susan B. Carbon, Director, Office on Violence Against Women
In 2009, President Barack Obama made history by becoming the first president to designate April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month. As we begin April, it’s time for us to commemorate it once more.
Through this act, the administration has called upon communities across the country to pay closer attention to this crime and to get involved in finding solutions.
Here at the Office on Violence Against Women, we heed this call by supporting the victims and by promoting a national dialogue about the crime of sexual assault.
Both are critically important because we recognize that one of the most tenacious barriers we face is the social stigma that engulfs the issue and the reluctance to talk about it.
Talking about sexual assault is a critical step in understanding it, responding to it and preventing this crime. This is not easy. We're still uncomfortable talking about children, young women and grandmothers being victimized; although we know that sexual assault occurs at all stages of life.
With sexual assault, there is no simple categorization. All are affected, regardless of gender, geographic location, race, ethnicity, economic status or sexual orientation. Researchers estimate that about 18 percent of women in the United States report having been raped at some point in their lifetime. In American-Indian and Alaska-Native populations, the chances are one in three. And one in four women is sexually assaulted over the course of their college careers.
These crimes have devastating consequences on the individual victims, their families and entire communities. This is why we must push ourselves to engage in these difficult conversations.
We must work harder to debunk the myths and misconceptions that condone and even promote victim blaming and allow perpetrators to act with impunity. Rape is never invited because of what a victim was wearing or how much she had to drink.
For this month, let us commit ourselves to getting involved.
Let us educate ourselves and others on the dynamics of this crime.
And let us do this everywhere: from our work place to our college campuses.
Through education, we can create a culture where victims feel safe reporting a crime, and where victims will be treated with respect.
Over the past 16 years, since the passage of the Violence Against Women Act, we have learned that a change in social attitudes toward hidden and stigmatized crimes is possible.
What was once deemed a “domestic disturbance” or a “family matter” is now unequivocally deemed as domestic violence. Our country can transform its view of sexual assault.
It all starts with individuals, families, schools and communities.
It all starts with you. This is your call to action.
For additional information about sexual assault and resources, please visit OVW’s website at www.ovw.usdoj.gov.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please call the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network at 800–656–HOPE (800–656–4673) to be connected to the rape crisis center nearest to you, or visit www.rainn.org for more information. You can also contact the National Sexual Violence Resource Center at 1-877-739-3895 or www.nsvrc.org.
Updated April 7, 2017
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